Top 9 reasons you grind your teeth
Top 9 reasons you grind your teeth
When you Clench or grind your teeth, it is known as bruxism. The person is generally unaware of it and can occur both during the day and at night. Grinding while awake is especially common when a person is concentrating or is in anger or stress. Bruxism during sleep is different from when the person is awake. Clenching the teeth while sleeping is not under conscious control. It usually occurs when during the sleep cycle a person goes from a deeper stage of sleep to a lighter stage of sleep.
Causes and Symptoms of Bruxism
#Causes
- 1. Anxiety, stress, frustration or anger can cause grinding of teeth without being conscious about it.
- 2. Abnormal positioning of upper and lower teeth or jaws.
- 3. Sleep problems, such as difficulty in breathing during sleep.
- 4. In response to pain from an earache.
- 5. Certain personality types like aggressive, competitive and hyperactive.
- 6. Teething (in children) can also cause them to grind teeth.
- 7. When someone is focusing a lot on a task.
- 8. Smoking tobacco, drinking caffeine containing beverages or alcohol.
- 9. Consuming illegal drugs such as methamphetamine or Ecstasy might increase the risk.
#Symptoms
- 1. The teeth are flattened due to wear of teeth by excessive forces.
- 2. Increase in tooth sensitivity due to exposure of the inner layer of the tooth.
- 3. Jaw or face soreness, this is more common in night bruxism . You might feel the soreness on waking up.
- 4. Pain that goes to the ear, and feels like an earache, although there is no problem with the ear.
- 5. Tightness in jaw muscles due to their overuse.
- 6. The teeth may be fractured, chipped in places or loose.
- 7. Sleep teeth grinding may be loud enough to awaken your sleep partner.
- 8. Dull headache in the sides of the forehead
- 9. Damage to the inside of your cheek
- 10. Teeth indentations on the tongue
Do you have any of the above symptoms? The prevalence of the number of people grinding teeth decreases with age. The highest prevalence is during childhood. Many people grind their teeth occasionally, but only a small percentage of people regularly do it. Bruxism does not occur constantly but rather occurs episodically during certain periods or times. The presence of tooth wear does not necessarily mean that a person is currently grinding or clenching their teeth. Hence a proper test should be done to understand if any, treatment is required at the present time or the person just needs to be made aware about the habit.
